Celtic's hammering of Hearts underscores dominance of the old order

Scottish Premier
Celtic 4

* Forrest 7,
* Stokes 53,
* Stokes 71,
* McCourt 80

Hearts 0

* Ewan Murray at Celtic Park

Celtic's dismissal of the notion that this year's Scottish Premier League title race can be of the three-horse variety could hardly have been more emphatic.

It is to Hearts' credit that this was a rousing Celtic Park occasion, but there the plaudits for the Edinburgh team must end. Their 11-game unbeaten SPL run was clinically put to an end by Celtic, who gained sweet revenge for defeat at Tynecastle in November. The hosts were as impressive as their previously high-flying visitors were abject.

"There was a lot of talk about Hearts going into this game and we used that as a motivation," said the Celtic manager, Neil Lennon. "There has been a lot of negativity [from the media] about our team this season. I thought we were absolutely tremendous, absolutely terrific from start to finish." Lennon would only confirm that Kris Commons is an "option" as a January signing, with Celtic closing in on signing the player from Derby County.

Domination of Scotland's top flight by both halves of the Old Firm since Aberdeen were crowned champions back in 1985 renders any fresh challenge appealing to the neutral observer. Hearts' recent form also seemingly appealed to the Celtic support, who turned up in greater numbers and louder voice than has been the case recently for this game. Scottish football suffers on account of many flat occasions, but this was nothing of the sort. The perception of any form of threat also jolted Celtic's team, who opened in rousing fashion. James Forrest enforced that dominance with a fine, angled finish after collecting a Scott Brown pass.

The visitors' inability to create a meaningful chance during those fiery early stages was more notable given the makeshift nature of Celtic's defence. Lennon had just a single fit centre-half to call on here, meaning the left-back Charlie Mulgrew deputised alongside Thomas Rogne.

Hearts' only spell of attacking promise came towards the end of the opening half. Stephen Elliott and Lee Wallace watched in vain as teasing passes crossed the Celtic goal area without a touch from their team-mates. That first-half had been low on quality yet utterly pulsating.

Gordon Strachan, visiting a competitive match at Celtic Park for the first time since he left the position of manager in the summer of 2009, had barely taken his seat alongside Rod Stewart for the start of the second period by the time the lead had been doubled.

Anthony Stokes, who had endured a miserable evening up to then, curled a free-kick beyond Marian Kello. The Hearts wall had not done its job, nor had Ismael Bouzid, who stupidly conceded the set piece by tugging Emilio Izaguirre's shirt.

An 18-man pushing match followed, the culmination of rising tensions up until that point. That situation had hardly been helped by inconsistent refereeing. Officialdom, however, had no impact as Stokes secured his second goal of the night. Baram Kayal sent Gary Hooper clean through, with Kello upending the striker as he prepared to shoot. Stokes cared little about that, the Irishman tapping in from close range.

Pat McCourt inflicted the final painful blow on the Edinburgh team after meeting a Hooper cut-back which had been dreadfully defended by Hearts. "For the last 25 minutes, we were a shambles," said their manager, Jim Jefferies. One horse might just have fallen, a few fences from home.

Taken from the Guardian/Observer